“Oh, I’m fine. Please come in.” Lara threw the door wide open and the mass shuffled inside.
Tom slapped him on the back. “Welcome to her world. No one’s a stranger. Good luck keeping her alive.”
Yeah, he could see that he was going to need it.
FOUR
Lara shut the door on the last of her visitors and hoped they’d bought the act. She’d had to smile and pretend to adore Connor. She’d explained that they’d met through mutual friends, but he was based in California and this was his first trip to D.C.
Her friend Barb, a divorced mom of two who lived on the fourth floor, had asked if Connor had a brother. The elderly sisters from the eighth asked if he had a record. Freddy, a fellow truth seeker from the second floor, had told her bluntly that Connor was obviously a CIA agent here on a mission to silence them all.
Sometimes Freddy had a vivid imagination.
“You have an interesting group of friends.” Connor sat on her couch like he owned the place. His left ankle crossed his right knee and he sat back, a glass of Scotch in his hand. The lord of the manor. She could see him as a medieval duke, staring out over his peasants before he chose a pretty servant girl to share his bed.
That was so not a politically correct fantasy. She crossed over to her bar and poured herself a glass of rather potent blueberry wine. It was organic and local and sometimes she wondered if the FDA shouldn’t step in because more than one glass really got her going.
She poured half a glass. She needed her faculties against him.
Lara turned and joined him in her small living room. She sat across from him on the love seat.
“There’s plenty of room here.” He gestured next to him.
No way. She’d spent the last three hours practically on his lap because there had been no place else to sit. In fact, she could still feel his arms around her. “I’m fine over here. You and Lincoln seem to get along now. I’ve actually never seen him so calm.”
He was sitting on Connor’s feet, his tiny body curled up as he slept. “I figured out what his issue was.”
“What? Do you have some veterinary experience? Because he has a ton of issues. He doesn’t sleep well. He never sleeps for more than an hour or two at a time. I think he has PTSD. Dogs can get that, you know.”
“He was hungry.” Connor’s lips pulled up in a grin and he tipped his Scotch toward her. “Just a hungry mongrel, like the rest of us.”
“He can’t be.” She stared down at him. About halfway through the impromptu gathering, he’d stopped growling. Usually she had to put him in her bedroom, but tonight she’d actually forgotten he was there. Not so great for a pet mother, but Connor had kind of taken over. “I keep his bowl full all the time.”
“Yes, I saw that. What’s vegan dog food besides torturous for the poor animal?”
“It’s a compassionate way for an animal to eat. I try to live my life with as much kindness and compassion as I can, so I put Lincoln on a vegan diet, too.”
“Let me tell you something, princess. Your dog likes burgers.”
Anger flashed through her system. “You fed him meat?”
“The little fucker wouldn’t leave me alone. I gave him a taste just to shut him up but then he whined so I gave him more. Your friend Tom was a little like the dog. He wouldn’t shut up until I gave him a burger, too. I only got two. I’m actually still hungry.”
She couldn’t believe he’d done that. “He’s my dog. I make the choices for him. You just ruined his diet. He won’t go back.”
He regarded her with all the seriousness of a lazy but hungry lion, as though he was deciding if tearing her up was worth the effort. “He never was there, Lara. He’s a dog. He was born a carnivore. He’ll die one. It’s his nature.”
“He was fine.”
“He was hungry and that made him angry. You say you’re all about compassion, but your dog was hungry.”
She knew some vets who said it could be done. Plenty of animals lived on a vegan diet, though once meat was introduced it was very hard to get them to go back. “You have all the answers, don’t you?”
His face softened, but only slightly. “Not at all, but I do know that trying to change a creature’s nature will only bring heartbreak for you and him. The world isn’t a pretty place, and you can’t change it by feeding your dog a bunch of vegetables.”
“So I shouldn’t try. Yeah, I’ve heard this one before.” There was no point in talking to her bodyguard. They wouldn’t be friends. She knew his type. He probably thought she was stupid and naive, that she caused more problems than she solved. Whatever. He wouldn’t fit in her world and she didn’t want to fit into his. “I’m going to work for a while.”
She headed for her office. Until this guy was caught, she would spend as little time around Connor as possible. The last thing she needed in her life was another man who thought she was an idiot. Even though her dad loved her, he didn’t understand, either. No one seemed to.
Connor caught her hand as she started past the couch. He fixed his stare on her. “They all liked you. That whole group of people. They were each different, but they got together because they like you. What do you do for them?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I share meals with some of them. I watch Barb’s kids from time to time. I help some of the college kids with their essays. I’m really good at that.”
He let go of her hand and nodded as though satisfied. “So they use you. That’s why they were here. They wanted to make sure you didn’t get hurt so they could continue to use you.”
What the hell had happened to him? “No, I’m a part of their community. Our friendships aren’t one-sided. Those same old women whose prescriptions I pick up taught me how to knit. And Barb always checks in on me. She sometimes does my laundry when I’m too busy. The college kids helped me get my furniture in this unit. We help each other.”
“Sure. You go on believing that.” He turned back to his Scotch.
“I might be naive, but you’re cynical.”
“Like I said, you can’t change a creature’s nature. I’m going to need all their names. I have to run checks on everyone who was here.”
“Why?”
“To see if any of them might have a reason to kill you.”
“Yes, because my eighty-year-old neighbors own a motorcycle and a revolver.”
“It was a semiautomatic,” he corrected. “I didn’t get a good enough look to know the model. And just because they can’t physically do the deed themselves doesn’t mean they didn’t pay someone else to do it. People always have their secrets. So get me a list of names.”
And he would start trying to dig up dirt on them. “I won’t do it.”
“Lara, we can’t have an adversarial relationship between us. I’m not the bad guy here.” He reached down and picked up Lincoln, settling him on the couch so he could turn more fully toward her. In the evening shadows, the planes of his face looked even harsher, starker. It did nothing but enhance his attractiveness. “I am sorry about Lincoln, but I think you’re wrong. All dogs are different. Some might be able to handle a vegan diet. I don’t think he could. If what you’re telling me is correct and he’s had all these issues since he’s been here, they’re probably dietary. Meat is easier to digest than grains, which gives him issues. So how far does your compassion go? Will you try it again and put him through this? Or will you feed him what he needs? Or does he no longer meet your requirements as a pet because he can’t follow your cruelty-free lifestyle?”
“So now I’m a vicious radical?” She hated the fact that she was tearing up in front of him. “I only care about the people who meet my exacting standards? Make up your mind about me, Connor. In the course of a single day I’ve been a one-percenter who didn’t care about poor ex-military men, an idiot who isn’t smart enough to stay off Facebook, and now I’m the vegan police, shutting out anyone who doesn’t follow my code. I should really pick a persona.”
She broke away from him.
>
“I need that list.”
She was sure he couldn’t see her, but she flipped him off anyway.